Puppet Masters
1. Myth number one is that the United States "can still win" in Iraq. Of course, the truth of this statement, frequently still made by William Kristol and other Neoconservatives, depends on what "winning" means. But if it means the establishment of a stable, pro-American, anti-Iranian government with an effective and even-handed army and police force in the near or even medium term, then the assertion is frankly ridiculous.
The Iraqi "government" is barely functioning. The parliament was not able to meet in December because it could not attain a quorum. Many key Iraqi politicians live most of the time in London, and much of parliament is frequently abroad. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki does not control large swathes of the country, and could give few orders that had any chance of being obeyed. The US military cannot shore up this government, even with an extra division, because the government is divided against itself. Most of the major parties trying to craft legislation are also linked to militias on the streets who are killing one another. It is over with. Iraq is in for years of heavy political violence of a sort that no foreign military force can hope to stop.
CBCFri, 29 Dec 2006 12:00 UTC
China said Friday it will strengthen its military to thwart any attempt by Taiwan to push for independence, but vowed that it was committed to the peaceful development of the world's largest army.
A report issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, also said the country's defense policy will focus on protecting its borders and sea space, cracking down on terrorism and modernizing its weapons.
[...] Halliburton Charged With Selling Nuclear Technology to Iran Halliburton, the notorious U.S. energy company, sold key nuclear-reactor components to a private Iranian oil company called Oriental Oil Kish as recently as 2005, using offshore subsidiaries to circumvent U.S. sanctions. The story is particularly important because Vice President Dick Cheney, who now claims to want to stop Iran from getting nukes, was president of Halliburton in the mid-1990s, at which time he may have advocated business dealings with Iran, in violation of U.S. law.
Israel's leading historian on the topic, Benny Morris, although having done more than anyone else to clarify exactly what happened, nonetheless concludes that, morally, it was a good thing - just as, in his view, the "annihilation" of Native Americans was a good thing - that, legally, Palestinians have no right to return to their homes, and that, politically, Israel's big error in 1948 was that it hadn't "carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country - the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan" of Palestinians. [Norman Finkelstein]
I want to start by saying that Israel does not need excuses to attack and kill Palestinians. However, they do it with international approval when they have this excuse.In fact, Israel is dictating the method of resistance that makes it easier for the Israeli army to counter.
The Palestinian resistance launches Qassams to retaliate the killing of Palestinian civilians, destruction of homes and infrastructure, thinking that they can make the Israeli population angry at its government and force it to accept Palestinian demand.
Simply, they are mistaken, because the Israeli officials whine because of the Qassams, but in fact, they are happy for these Qassams and would love to have more of them.The so called "Qassam Rockets" do not cause a worth mentioning damage to property, they do not physically harm Israelis, except on a very minor level. However, Israel managed to make a life-threatening monster out of these home-made metal pipes filled with some gun powder, that fall on Palestinian houses and empty areas in most of the cases.
So, it was easy to get an American Veto against the resolution to condemn the Israeli massacre in Beit Hanoun, claiming that it was an act of self-defense, while the world condemn the launching of these Qassams.
The fact that Palestinian resistance groups do not realize is that Israel does not intend to stop the launching of Qassams.
Therefore, there is nothing to make one believe that Palestinians are gaining anything good out of launching these Qassams.
Comment: Isn't it about time that everyone just accepted the FACT that Israel is behind the firing of these rockets?
Joe Quinn
Sott.netWed, 20 Dec 2006 12:00 UTC
There is a saying of sorts that "if you are going to do something, do it well", and given the serious consequences, nowhere is that more true than when you plan to engage in criminal activity.
Today in Basra, Southern Iraq, two members of the British SAS (Special Ops) were caught, 'in flagrante' as it were, dressed in full "Arab garb", driving a car full of explosives and shooting and killing two official Iraqi policemen.
Diocese is shaken as former altar boy takes legal action claiming that negligence exposed him to priest who was 'a danger to children'
The Catholic church faces fresh allegations of turning a blind eye to paedophilia after an Observer investigation revealed that one of its priests was allowed to continue working despite warnings he posed a danger to children.
The priest, Father David Crowley, went on to rape a 10-year-old altar boy, whom he continued to abuse until 1995. Now the victim has spoken publicly for the first time about his ordeal in order to expose the 'scandalous' way he says the church has behaved. He has accused the Rt Rev David Konstant, former Bishop of Leeds, of failing to stop Crowley despite having evidence that the priest was a sex risk to children. In 1997 Crowley was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to abusing boys for more than a decade.
Article continuesKonstant was Bishop of Leeds for 19 years, chairman of the Catholic Education Service and headed the church's international affairs committee under Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster.
The Honourable Dame Elizabeth Lydia Manningham-Buller, (Dame Eliza) DCB (born 14 July, 1948) is the current director general (DG) of MI5, the British internal national security agency, appointed in October 2002.
The second daughter of a former Lord Chancellor and Attorney General, Reginald Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne, Dame Eliza was educated at Northampton High School and Benenden School.
She worked as a teacher for three years at Queen's Gate in London, having read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1971 to 1974, before joining the Security Service.
Michael Evans
The TimesSun, 10 Dec 2006 12:00 UTC
THE head of MI5 has publicly backed Tony Blair's warning that the rules of how Britain combats the threat of terrorism have to change.
In a break with tradition, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, Director-General of MI5, allowed a confidential speech that she had given to Dutch intelligence officers to be published on the agency's website yesterday. She gave a warning that an erosion of civil liberties might be necessary to stop more British citizens from being killed by terrorists.
Her intervention will provide ammunition for the Prime Minister and Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, in their battle with the courts over dealing with suspected terrorists. It will also bolster the Government's struggle to introduce rules to make it easier to deport foreign preachers of hate.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice has rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the Bush administration engageSyria and Iran in efforts to stabilize Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
The "compensation" required for any such deal might be too high, Rice told the paper in an interview.
Rice said she did not want to trade away Lebanese sovereignty to Syria or allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon as a price for peace in Iraq, the Post reported.
She also argued that neither Syria nor Iran should need incentives to help achieve stability in Iraq, the Post reported.
Comment: Isn't it about time that everyone just accepted the FACT that Israel is behind the firing of these rockets?